Dr Kelechi E. Nnoaham
Endometriosis probably affects 5-10% of women in their reproductive years. In recent years, clinical prediction of the condition based on symptoms and risk factors in the medical history has gained attention although little progress has been made. Furthermore, women with endometriosis experience greater quality of life impairment than the general population but much still remains to be known of the nature of this impact. My DPhil thesis work will establish the risk factors for endometriosis and explore the impact of endometriosis on health-related quality of life and work productivity in women in thirteen different countries with symptoms of the condition.
In the Global Study of Women's Health, a cohort of pre-menopausal women aged 18-45 years, who are attending gynaecology clinics for their first diagnostic laparoscopy or laparoscopy for tubal sterilization are being enrolled. The recruitment strategy will enable cross-sectional and case-control evaluation. Cases will comprise women diagnosed with endometriosis at laparoscopy and controls will be women in whom no endometriosis was found. Women agreeing to participate are asked to complete an online questionnaire (before their surgery) seeking retrospective information about symptoms, use of health care resources, quality of life, medical and family history, and life-style factors. Following surgery, patients' surgical details are completed online. Power calculations suggest a requisite sample size of 1,000. The sixty-seven item quantitative online questionnaire includes the SF36 v2 to assess HRQOL; the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire to assess impact of symptoms on work and non-work productivity and standardised pelvic pain symptom assessment used in earlier studies in Oxford.
Continuous variables will be compared through paired-sample t tests or a non-parametric equivalent. Categorical variable distributions will be compared by means of chi square statistics. Conditional logistic regression models will include all variables that are statistically significant in unadjusted analyses or that are considered clinically important based on a priori hypotheses.
Publications
2010
Nnoaham KE, Frater A, Roderick P, Moon G, Halloran S. Do geodemographic typologies explain variations in uptake in colorectal cancer screening? An assessment using routine screening data in the south of England. J Public Health (Oxf). 2010; Apr 21. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 20410067
2009
Nnoaham KE, Sacks G, Rayner M, Mytton O, Gray A. Modelling income group differences in the health and economic impacts of targeted food taxes and subsidies. Int J Epidemiol. 2009; 38(5):1324-33. PMID: 19483200
Nnoaham KE, Sivananthan S, Hummelshoj L, Jenkinson C, Webster P, Kennedy SH, Zondervan KT. Multi-centre studies of the global impact of endometriosis and the predictive value of associated symptoms. Journal of Endometriosis . 2009; 1(1): 36-45.
2008
Nnoaham KE, Kumbang J. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for chronic pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008; Jul 16(3): CD003222. PMID: 18646088
Nnoaham KE. Pathology of a famine: The Malawi example. The Internet Journal of Rescue and Disaster Medicine. 2008; Volume 7 Number 2.
Nnoaham KE, Lines C. Modelling future capacity needs and spending on colonoscopy in the English bowel cancer screening programme. Gut. 2008; 57:1238-1245. PMID: 18441004
Nnoaham KE, Clarke A. Low serum vitamin D levels and tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2008; 37: 113-119. PMID: 18245055
2006
Nnoaham KE, Pool R, Bothamley G, Grant AD. Perceptions and Experiences of tuberculosis among African patients attending a tuberculosis clinic in London. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2006; 10(9):1013-1017. PMID: 16964793
Nnoaham KE. A handwashing intervention in a low-income community in the developing world reduced disease incidence in children. Commentary. Evidence-Based Medicine Journal. 2006; 11:88. PMID: 17213109
Newt
Pinfox